A Wife's Revenge

I'm finding out that I tend write a BTB story for fun when I come into repeated contact with arrogant and totally full of themselves assholes. It has been of either sex, different ethnicities, religions, ages, or socio-economic groups. Someone who lies about anything to get people inflamed, who doesn't give a shit about anybody else but himself or his/her buddies. Idiots who cheats and steals, goes after the weak or the disabled too. I'm talking about jerks. Narassistic personalities really piss me off. When they get theirs, like the guy who raised the price of the drug and then got arrested for securities fraud, I feel a level of satisfaction. That's when I say that there is a god...

*****

Discovery and Cold Revenge

"OK, we've been collecting information on them for months. We've come up with a plan. Before we start, you're all with me on this?"

On the surface it looked like I had been beaten down and gave up. It was 11 months ago when I got home two hours early from my Saturday MBA class. Bret, my 35 year-old husband of two years was fucking one of the teachers from the school where he was the principal. I stood there, motionless, in disbelief after I followed the noises to the bedroom. I have no idea how long I was standing there when he saw me. I didn't even know if I made a noise. When he looked at me he laughed while she kept riding him. That's when she laughed to. It wasn't a nervous laugh, it was an 'I got him and you don't bitch' laugh.

This was not the kind of marriage I wanted to have. For months he had been pressuring me about inviting others into our bedroom and I kept politely refusing. I tried to find other ways to keep the sexual and emotional spark in our marriage alive, but it was an uphill battle. His whole focus in our marriage was becoming more mechanical, more sexual highs for him. He wanted me more slutty. I was no longer a person, no longer a wife, no longer a partner in a marriage. He wanted to make me into a whore, a cheap trick. No love, no caring, just him getting off and power plays. And his demands kept escalating.

As they continued to laugh, I turned and left the room. In 2 minutes I was out of the house. By Monday I was in a lawyer's office starting the paperwork to dissolve my non-existent marriage.

The asshole strung me along in the divorce until I showed him that every additional lawyer hour he was dragging out of me meant he was reducing his own take by $300, and we were down by $10K so far. He liked to show who was in control, who was in power. He only backed off when it began to hit his pocket book and he felt that he had humiliated me enough, had broken my spirit.

It's not like there was much money to begin with. We had pretty decent salaries, but we had bigger expenses and debts. He wanted the big wedding, and he got it. He wanted a big house, he got it. He wanted that new Mustang, he got it. Then I guess he wanted everything else too. Not the kind of life I wanted to live. The house had a little bit of equity, but not enough for any real money after a sale. It looked great and would appreciate. He was all about things looking great.

Chloe was the 2nd grade school teacher in our bed. Blond and was pretty, and 5' and 85 pounds. Probably had to hold on to a hand rail if there was a strong wind. I'm from peasant stock, strong and solid but not fat by any means. Then again, I'm not an air head or arm candy or ready to whore myself out to keep a shit of a husband.

It took 8 months, but the divorce finally happened. He got the house and its payments, the outstanding debt from the wedding, his decently sized 401Ks and his 2 year old Mustang. I got my student loans, my ratty 1999 Saturn, my clothes and my freedom. It was worth it. I had a job and my graduate loans were my only debt. He was leveraged to the hilt but he had all the toys, including the one in his bed.

I've been going to night school for the past 2 years to get an MBA in finance while I worked as a lower level accountant. I knew where I was heading. He was a very popular principal in the local school district. His plan was become superintendent in a year or two when the current one was going to retire. Then it'd be 5-7 years here then on to the next district. His plan was to keep trading up with more experience to larger and larger school districts with larger salaries. He had the politics down pat. That's how he made principal. There were better qualified people, but he played the game better. Making $90K now in this district as a principal, he'll hit $135K as beginning superintendent. That would only happen if he stays employed and clean.

My gift to him was that I was going to change that last bit.

Waiting for the divorce to be completed was a requirement. There was no way I was going to pay him alimony. I kept all of my planning quiet until after the marriage was legally over. Then I kept it quiet for another couple of months after that to make him think he won and I moved on. This was revenge served cold.

Since that day I caught them, we've been collecting information on them both. My two sisters and I have made this our plan that very same day. We weren't going to make anything up but expose what was there. When I left that day, I pulled his work laptop and handed it to my sister May's husband Rob.

Rob's our family's resident computer geek. He's not a network admin, just supports a couple of accounting packages at his work. He's a user that kept moving up the 'food chain'. If he doesn't know something, he researches it or asks his friends, the 'net' or the Network Admin communities. It isn't what you know, it's what you can find out and who you can talk with.

I caught them at 11 AM on a Saturday when I was supposed to be at class. The class ended early because the prof became ill. After leaving the house, I drove around for an hour to just try to clear my head. Murder was out, but that was a barely just out. I kept telling myself to calm down, get a handle on things. Found an unoccupied Forest Reserve Picnic Grove and parked. It really helped to get out of the car and yell and scream and beat my fists on the park benches. It must have been 20 minutes of just unleashing the tip of my rage and anger and hurt. I knew I wasn't finished with what was going on inside of me, but it was enough to go on. That's when I called May, my older sister.

May immediately asked me to come to her home and talk. By the time I got there, my other sister Liz was waiting for me. Did I ever talk. I'd been struggling to keep the marriage alive, but his narcissism couldn't be overcome. That's the final analysis of the situation after 3 hours of talking. MBA classes train you in doing the analysis of facts and going forward from there.

Sisters and other family are there to do the listening and working through of feelings. This last part was going to take longer. It was also going to be much tougher, even with the history of our problems. One thing I learned in life, don't bury anything big. Don't bury loss. Grieve and try to grow and heal. If you don't do that, it'll come out later and warp your life.

I never got a chance to move to my own place. May and Rob wouldn't hear of it. An illegal furnished basement apartment in their house gave me space and solitude. Going upstairs gave me family and communal meals if I wanted or needed it. Sometimes I went upstairs. Sometimes I stayed downstairs. Sometimes I was yanked up for a meal and to be with people I loved and who loved me. Stability, love and caring helps you to heal, and I got plenty of that plus so much more.

Both of my brother-in-laws wanted to be in on the action to take Bret down. Rob and my other brother-in-law Eric wanted to do that for years. Later that first Saturday evening, I was drained, drained beyond belief. I collapsed alone on the couch. I needed to be alone, I knew that I had to give myself a break. Netflix gave me some 90's sitcoms to numb my mind with. That and two vodka gimlets helped bring me up to miserable. That was quite a bit better than I had been that day.

By 9 PM, Rob walked over to me with Bret's work laptop that I conveniently 'borrowed' as I was going out the front door. Rob was grinning from ear to ear. I looked up to him and asked "Well? Did you find anything good?" I needed some hope in my life.

"Lucy, do you want the short version or the longer version?" I nodded yes. He chuckled at my answer. Confused, then it hit me, answering yes to an either-or-question. Then I mouthed 'short' and he smiled and I laughed at me.

"As a school principal, Bret was doing a lot of porn surfing. On their machine, on company time and on their network. Remember that last part. Most of it wasn't straight laced porn. He was looking at kinky stuff, and three and four-somes were most common from what I can tell. There were more pages I saw that would take more time to investigate. Lots of chat rooms. I wonder how he found time to be a principal?

"As you know, asshole is technically inept. He thinks that erasing history on his browser is all he needs to do. Even if he destroys the laptop, he won't be able to hide his browsing history from the network. He won't take into account the network admins and what the network records.

"He also had pictures from some of his 3 and 4 ways with Chloe. I don't know who these people are, but we need to find out. Looks like he may have stored some of his porn on the network."

I got a smile on my face. That was a huge crack in his armor, something that could cause his entire career path to go down in smoke. All because it was something he shouldn't have been doing. I love the public sector and schools. Don't mess with anybody's kids, especially in this town.

Rob continued, "And you also know he won't spend any money to hire someone to reset your dsl internet connection and permissions at the house. I set up the system for you three years ago.

"Today, I started by copying everything on this laptop to an usb drive. I called a friend and got some spyware and installed it on his work machine. I'll be able to monitor what he's doing until he completely refreshes that laptop or they run an in-depth scan. I ran a scan on it and it was loaded with malware crap. I left it that way. Looks like he never ran a scan on it. Unless it dies a natural death, I don't think that a scan will happen.

"You'll need to return this laptop to the house for him to find later. Do you still have his old laptop in the basement?" I nodded yes. "Then get it and we may use it somehow when we get a plan together. Do you still know your neighbors very well? Can you ask them to see when Bret's car isn't in the driveway?"

I was always on great terms with my neighbors. I also knew that they had a problem with Bret. I immediately made a phone call to them and they agreed to give me a call when his Mustang left the driveway.

Got that call Sunday morning at 9:15. Bret was going to church services. He didn't care anything about religion. He was there to increase his standing in the community and look pious and upstanding. Was everything he did for show and politics?

Does a bear shit in the woods?

That's when my 2 sisters and their husbands, May and Rob, and Liz and Eric went into action. A pickup truck, 25 empty boxes and a 2 hour window of opportunity was all I needed when we showed up at what used to be my home. I took everything that was mine that I wanted. I left him the student era furniture and anything I hated or we bought or got together. I was moving into May and Rob's basement apartment. He'd stay away from me there.

Bret always hated Rob. He had reason to be afraid after Rob saw him threating me very badly once. Rob pulled him on the side to talk with him. Only because there were witnesses, Rob didn't talk to him with his hands. Instead, Rob told asshole that if he ever did anything like that again, he'd be toast. The marriage had already been going down the tubes. It just bought me some more time for me to accept that fact. When I caught them fucking, there really was no decision to be made. It was over except for the yelling.

That morning I was moved out and the laptop was placed under the couch where he normally 'stored' it. I grabbed the financial papers, tax records and other legal documents. I always handled that side. I needed to put in a permanent change of address and cancel the credit cards that we had in common. I'd grieve later, survival was first.

Today, it's been over 11 months since finding them fucking. We'd been collecting information - System Knowledge about the Dynamic Dual. Get as much information on the system to put a plan in order.

We started out with Bret, his lover Chloe and their 'friends'. We found out everything we could. Google searches, Facebook friends, Linkin. We searched for people who hung out at the same places. We didn't leave very many stones unturned. We did this for everybody we studied.

We also looked at the people on the School board and the local parents group that's massively involved with the school. She was a 2nd grade teacher and we needed to know who was in her class, their families and their friends. Who knew who, who trusted who, who did they know, who could we get an in with. Who had power or would raise a stink. New business software from my classes helped chart this information. It was a little difficult to learn, but that knowledge will come in handy in the future.

The people at the school were also on the list. His immediate staff, the others that reported to him and the teachers in general were researched. All this was done quietly. He was very popular with the parents and the school board. He was a terror with the teachers, staff and their very lean tech group.

We found out who were his friends, their friends and those who frequent their bar topped off our research. We had identified his 3 and 4 some partners too. As we assembled the information, we kept juggling plans, angles of interest, added plans for future information to collect. The plan was to be fluid before we started and would change as it moved on. This was no longer about ego or anger. It as a Project, and I was the Project Manager.

From all of this I realized that the best thing for me and this marriage was to end it. The best thing for everybody else was to expose Bret and Chloe's actions. Let them hang themselves. I didn't need to make anything up or plant anything. Even with him being a two-faced bastard that cared nothing about anybody else but himself, I was still going to want to look in the mirror each morning and see someone with integrity.

We got enough information to get a clear picture of the little love couple. She went after him and boasted about it to her 'friends'. He lapped it up and had her bring in a couple more people for his three and four-some. They'd been at it for months before I saw them at it. We found out that two of them were teachers at his school.

Chloe was a jealous, vicious bitch with a daddy complex. She was in debt up to her eyeballs, emotionally weak, thin skinned, impulsive and immature. She had burned her bridges to her family years ago. She also had the 'short person syndrome'. Always had to prove she was better, even when she had no need to. By the way, did I mention vicious and impulsive? That was music to my ears.

For months we looked and evaluated their weaknesses. We found where people were seriously pissed at them. We saw where their actions, individually or together, would cause them emotional, social or financial harm. We had plenty to work with. I was counting on his narcissism and her immaturity, and it provided us a series of openings. We chose carefully, laying out probabilities and risks. There were loads of areas in which we took a pass. Those areas may have exposed us, or wasn't worth the effort or would hurt innocent people. Sometimes the plan would hurt not so innocent people.

Our plan had to primarily target the assholes and the assholes alone. We tried hard, but there was no way to determine if there was going to be any collateral damage for the not-so-innocents. We did the best we could. The act of planning was great. It gave me purpose, experience and helped me to heal. The more I found out about him, the better I felt about what I was doing. To have him face the consequences of his actions would cause his removal from current and ensure that there would be no future schools.

The information we collected gave me reasons for leaving. Showed me that he was not worth reconciliation. It would be a wasted effort if I had been inclined. He was a jerk, but it's still difficult to end a marriage. I'll be 31 in a month and starting out all over again. That will be OK. I can do that.

The other thing was that it was great to put the skills from my degree to actual use.

"Well, are we all in?" I got a wonderful round of "Let's get the assholes". We clinked our wine glasses in a toast. Somehow it was appropriate that we were toasting with a dark Sicilian red. An expensive wine that Bret liked.

Eric started off with his part. "We all agreed that Lucy should have no fingerprints in any of this. Right?" There were 4 nods yes. "It also can't come from May or Liz either. Right?" More nods.

"First thing, we'll start on his relationship with Chloe. The trust thing between them has to stop. Her thin skin needs to be damaged first and then their bond will unravel and break.

"They hang out at Barleys on Main Street near downtown. I've got a couple of Marine buddies passing through in a couple of days for a week. They've agreed to help. They've got pictures and video of him and her so they know what they look and sound like. Lucy, one more time, what does his scar look like?"

Bret was shaving his pubs one day in college while drunk. "It's a nasty 3" scar on his cock, lengthwise. It wasn't deep, but it's noticeable. Is that enough Eric?"

"Great cause my buddies are going to be talking shit to each other in the john when asshole's in there. The other thing you told us is that he isn't cut. They'll make noise about her complaining that he doesn't keep clean for her." I winced. That was true for me. The four of them chuckled. They'd heard it all before.

"They'll also talk about an imagined 3 way they had with Chloe that weekend. And that she dissed him the entire time. That was when she was at her cousin's in Battle Creek for that wedding shower. She was at the Courtyard by the highway. Good start?" We all nodded. "Should fuck up the rest of his weekend.

"By the way, I've got two people that'll be at the bar with their cell phones recording things for us. We won't be completely out of the loop."

It was now Rob's turn. "This was like shooting fish in a barrel. One of my buddies is friends with the Network Admin at the school district. The Admin really hates the asshole. It only took one offhand comment when they were out drinking at a bar. My buddy said that I should've seen his eyes light up. Knew immediately what should be done and how to make it hold up in court. With a little bit of discussion, he agreed to not expose him immediately, just not yet.

"Since then, the Network Admin's been collecting the network history files and doing it for presentation to the School Board, and the police. Asshole may have gone to sites that he shouldn't have, that nobody should have.

"The other thing, asshole doesn't know about the network copiers and his photo quality color printer. How many of you know that those new machines tend to save everything that is printed or copied in its very big hard drive?

"EVERYTHING." Rob stared at us.

We were stunned. Big brother owns the copiers too? Rob continued. "I don't know all the details, but I do know that each page is recorded with time and date. Bret's been printing photo quality pictures of himself, Chloe and some of their 3 and 4 ways. Looks like some weren't posed. Looks like some of their other partners didn't know they were being recorded. This is going to hit the fan. There won't be any way to deny this to the School board. The ID of the computer is also attached to the record. So even if he kills the computer, he's still toast.